Designed formation of C/Fe3O4@Ni(OH)2 cathode with enhanced pseudocapacitance for asymmetric supercapacitors

Abstract

The rational design and synthesis of advanced electrode materials are significant for the applications of supercapacitors. Ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4), with its high theoretical capacitance is a renowned cathode material. Nevertheless, its low electronic conductivity and poor cycling stability during a long-term charge/discharge process limit its large-scale applications. In this work, the precise modulation of multiple components was reported to enhance electrochemical performance. The ternary heterostructures were fabricated by wrapping ultrathin nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2) nanosheets on the surfaces of Fe3O4 nanoparticles-loaded on sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-derived porous carbon, named as C/Fe3O4@Ni(OH)2. Due to the large specific surface area and excellent conductivity of CMC-derived porous carbon and the abundant reaction sites of Ni(OH)2 nanosheets, the optimized C/Fe3O4@Ni(OH)2–1.0 sample exhibited the highest specific capacitance of 3072F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1. Furthermore, the assembled asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) with activated carbon and C/Fe3O4@Ni(OH)2–1.0 as the negative and positive electrodes, respectively, showed an energy density of 123 W h kg−1 at 381 W kg−1, and a long-life stability with an excellent capacitance retention of 90.04 % after 10,000 cycles. The route for preparing composite electrode materials proposed in this work provides a reference for realizing high-performance energy storage devices.